The Gauteng education landscape is shifting, with the opening of more specialization schools, to bridge the gap between Grade 12 and tertiary education through training for specific sectors.
About a week ago, a new robotics and coding centre called Future Shaper Lab, opened its doors to the public on Thursday, the 18th of August.
Gauteng MEC, Panyaza Lesufi has stated that specialization schools are particularly important as the labour market is looking for the skills of the youth.
"Education will be meaningless if you produce people that cannot be absorbed by the labour market; education will be meaningless if it can't respond to the economic need of our country. Any education will be meaningless if our children cannot participate in the economy."
He continued, saying the desire is to prevent South Africa's youth from looking for jobs, and instead create a balance where jobs are also looking for the youth.
Lesufi says there are many companies (including a few overseas) that are lining up to partner with Gauteng schools.
"The only thing we do [is] we provide them with [the] school infrastructure and they come with the curriculum, they come with the educators that can train our children. So we are of the view that the future is about skills (technical skills for that matter) and if we can invest in those skills, our children stand a better chance of getting employment."
A few female matric learners at John Orr Technical High School built an electric car using solar-powered energy, within two months while balancing their June exams.
"What impresses me with John Orr is that your creativity went beyond my imagination, your commitment reminded me of Banyana Banyana [lifting the Women’s African Cup of Nations trophy in Morocco over a week ago]," said Lesufi.
He added that seeing young girls building a car from scratch is a call for young minds to be hired because they show great potential, especially for young women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields.
A total of 35 schools have been targeted as specialization schools across the Gauteng province, but 19 have already been launched.
